The Ballad of Captain Haught
by AFY2018
Summary: Nicole is the captain of the pirates, Waverly is a stranded mermaid.
1. Chapter 1

'Shit, shit, shit!' Waverly thought, 'What the hell?'

She tried swimming away as fast as she could, just focusing on what was ahead, trying not to look back at that huge barracuda chasing her. She saw a large rock she could try to escape on. The fish caught up with her, taking a large bite into the end of her tail. Waverly cried out as she felt the barracuda take some of her with it. She pulled it close and punched at it, ripping it off of her tail and holding it as she dragged herself onto the rock. She had to get to land before anything bigger tried to get her. The barracuda tried to bite her hand, not being able to break her grasp over its mouth. It flopped around as it suffocated on the dry rock. Waverly watched it flop and gasp as she dropped it on the flat rock. She looked down at her tail, blood was pooling on the rock, dripping to the ocean. Waverly laid down on the rock, sobbing from the excruciating pain. She covered her face and groaned as she transformed back into her human form. Waverly glanced back down seeing that now it was long gashes in her right leg. She looked at the fish that was now dead and shook her head.

"Great, now I'm alone with a fish. I should've stayed with Wynonna. Fuck."

Waverly closed her eyes as another wave of pain flowed through her body. She covered her face and cried again. After another minute or so, Waverly took a deep breath.

"What would Wynonna do? Sing."

Waverly sat up and began singing, hoping to lure at least one ship. She tried to focus her energy into her song, a desperate chant into the warm Caribbean air. Anything to get anyone, even her sister. She sang for a long while, watching as the blood on her legs and the rock dried into that reddish brown colour. She closed her eyes and started to faint, seeing the world around her blackout and fade into darkness.

"Captain, I don' think we shoul' have her on board."

"I tell you what to do, Henry."

"I agree, Captain."

"She's hurt, we can't let her die."

"Just grab the fish, James." Nicole huffed and carried the bloodied girl onto the boat and to her quarters.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Nicole chuckled as she brought her to her quarters, laying her on her bed as she grabbed a bottle of rum and a rag. She sat down next to her and wetted it. She covered her from the top of her wound to her neck as she began to clean off the wound. If anything, while she wasn't conscious would be the best time to put her in the most amount of pain. Maybe it would wake her up. Nicole made quick work of the bloodied mess, grabbing a clean cloth to wrap her leg up. The young woman's eyes began to flutter open. She jutted up, scooting as far away from Nicole as she could.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. We heard you and, well, here you are. I'm Captain Nicole Haught." She quickly explained. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? If you're tired, you can rest. I'm sorry if you're in pain, I just needed to clean off your wound." Nicole gestured to her leg.

The young woman looked down at her leg, seeing the wrappings on her leg. She looked back up at her and smiled a bit. "Gracias."

"Oh, tú hablas español."

"Si."

"Umm…" Nicole thought, quickly translating her previous sentence.

"Venga, Capitana Nicole." She beckoned.

Nicole slowly neared her, sitting down. The young woman placed her hands on Nicole's head. Nicole's head buzzed like she had a horrible headache. She groaned and gripped the sheets, trying to pull away from her guest's iron grip. The mysterious girl released Nicole's head, holding her own and curling up a bit.

"I'm sorry," She delicately answered in a British accent. "I know it hurts."

"You can speak English?"

"I had to learn it from you."

"Oh, umm… I'm Nicole Haught."

"My name is Waverly Earp. Thank you, Captain Haught."

"Are you a mermaid?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Okay."

"How bad was it?"

"Your bites?"

"Yes."

"Not good. I tried not to linger too much, though. I wasn't sure when you'd wake up. I'm sorry if it hurt. If you felt it."

"Thank you, I thought I was going to die out there."

"We're going to Havana. I have a place out there where you can hide and rest until you're better."

"To be honest, I would rather go home, I don't mean to be rude." She apologized, getting up.

She instantly fell back down. Nicole lunged to grab her before she hit the ground. "You should really rest, Ms. Earp. Please, for your sake. We're docking in a day in Havana, Cuba. If you would like to join me in my cabin, I can help you heal and sail you back to your home when we begin back to England."

Waverly nodded, looked around the room. "Okay."

"Okay. Until then, why don't you rest then."

"What about you? This is your room I suspect?"

"I'm taking night watch, so this is basically your room." She smiled, taking off her hat and placing it on Waverly's head and jokingly stated, "You're the captain now, kid."

Waverly blushed a bit tipping up the cap to watch Nicole as she left the room. She bit her lip lightly, taking off the hat to see the bizarre additions Nicole made to personalize it. It was a long black hat that had a yellow ribbon and a silver button at a single point near the top to keep the two halves of the brim together like a handmade bicorn. It was decorated with a single green and blue feather peeking out from an opening between the brim. Waverly unbuttoned the hat to see pins and other things were sewn into it. Things that Nicole must have kept near her as not to lose anything. There was a cloth note sewn in a foreign language Waverly had yet to learn, stating:

"Bonne chance mon amie. J'espère que vous trouviez votre âme sœur. ~ Shae Pressman"

It must have been a sweet message for Nicole to keep in her hat. The next thing Waverly saw was a golden pin decorated with arms of royalty. Another button was decorated with blue red and white ribbons sewn around it. The other pieces pinned and sewn to the hat were different currencies from around the world. Waverly wondered if they were stolen en route or if she really travelled that much. She tried to stand up again, catching herself as she almost fell again. Waverly closed the hat and popped it back on her head.

Nicole stretched as the moon reached its peak. She left the wheel to her first mate to navigate to Cuba. She walked around the deck, quietly regarding the sea. A scratching noise broke her thoughts. Turning around, Nicole spotted Waverly, still wearing the hat, using a crutch to join her. She leant against the edge of the ship, tipping her head to her caretaker. Nicole took the hat and placed it on her own head at an angle so the feather tipped over her left eye.

"Beautiful night." Waverly smiled.

"This is why I left England." Nicole smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. I hope you don't mind, but I peeked inside your hat."

"You did, did you? Just a personal touch to make it my own. Things I couldn't live without."

"What does the note say?"

Nicole touched her hat and smiled ruefully. "Good luck my friend. I hope you find your soulmate."

"What language was that?"

"French. We sort of had a forbidden love in my society."

"Why?"

"We have been fighting with the French since the establishment of British society. They try to take us over and we take them over. We fight all the time, so when I met Shae, I was suspicious at first but learned that we weren't all that different. Sadly a time came when we had to part ways, and we wouldn't see each other again. I knew it was the last time, so she wrote me that message before she left, and I've kept it ever since."

"Why?"

"So I don't forget what a true friend wants for me."

"Did you love her?"

Nicole looked out at the ocean and took a deep breath. "I don't know, but not anymore. She's just a distant memory I keep to remember where I was and where I am now. Where are you from?"

"The ocean. This is home for me."

"Do you have a family?"

"Just my sister."

"I'll try to get you home as quickly as possible then."

"Thank you, Nicole."

"You should rest, Ms. Earp. Good night."

"Good night."

Waverly kissed Nicole's cheek and slowly walked back to her quarters. Nicole's cheeks instantly went red as she watched her mysterious guest walk away. She covered her face as she smiled, laughing quietly to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

They entered the port that early morning. Nicole woke up Waverly and helped off the boat, taking the long walk with her to her cabin on the outskirts of Havana. Waverly ended up wearing one of Nicole's old dresses. A flowing cream coloured dress that was just getting dusty in her cabin on deck. They descended the ramp, hearing the city slowly come to life. Shopkeepers opened up as fishers came to and from the smaller port by the pub. Waverly revelled in human society, looking as wives carried their children around the port. People of different colours and shades of black like a shopkeeper selling clothes to pale like Nicole's first mate, James. She could hear people speaking English Spanish Portuguese and Danish, as well as some other languages she didn't understand. Nicole glanced at her, smiling at the wondrous, and curious, grin on her face.

"This is so beautiful."

"Come on, we can explore after I fix your leg."

They continued down the street and onto a road passing large buildings with guards in colourful garb. Waverly smiled at them and watched as a few musicians got together on a street corner. The guitarist strummed a few chords, playing up and down the neck as a quick warm up. There was another guitarist with a lower sounding instrument to harmonize with him. A young girl came out and sat on the drummer's knee. She laughed and talked to him quickly. Waverly glanced at Nicole with a great smile.

"I love this city."

"Me too."

"How long have you been sailing?"

"About 13 years on large ships like mine, but I was practically born on the seas. How did you learn Spanish?"

"When I was younger, I became curious about others on land, others that looked like you, humans."

"So what do you speak to your sister?"

"Mersk."

"What does it sound like?"

Waverly looked at the sky for a moment and turned back to Nicole. "Fask kosk ventist foola ol, tre pensent kosk ol kos bunb."

"Oh wow."

"Do you know French?"

"Not really. Shae tried to teach me, but I'm bad at languages."

Waverly smiled and shrugged. "Why did you have to leave Shae?"

"I was stationed in Wales and then Iceland and Scotland. She knew that she couldn't follow me, so we said goodbye."

"You were in the military?"

"Secretly, yeah. I posed as a boy and grew up on a ship. When I was 17 I left and began to work for a merchant. When he died, I took over his ship, the Gunn." Nicole smiled as they continued down the twisting and winding path. "So, mystery girl, what is it like in the ocean?"

"Boring for myself. I grew up in the ocean though. I think something that never gets old is dawn and dusk, and visiting other cities."

"Like merpeople cities?"

"Yeah. I love learning new languages from the others."

"So what is life like? Do you guys explore the ocean and land? Do you have jobs?"

"Yeah. We have researchers in animals, culture, history. Umm, we have teachers, doctors, farmers and hunters, leaders and protectors."

"Do you have a king?"

"Yes, the seven families who rule the Atlantic ocean."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They co-rule together."

"Who's ocean are we in?"

"This territory I would guess is… unexplored."

"Maybe it can be the Kingdom of Earps."

Waverly chuckled and shook her head. "I'm no leader, my sister is though. Even then, we wouldn't be in charge of the ocean. That's left to the leaders of the types of merfolk."

"Types? I thought there was only one?"

"No, there are 7. I'm what you would call a shapeshifter, I'm not bound to the sea like others. There's also pearl-weepers spell-singers ship-savers sirens merfolk and weather-workers."

"What are those?"

"Spell-singers can lure men. Weather-workers change the weather in order to help or hurt sailors. Pearl-weepers weep pearls. Ship-savers save ships from disasters. Sirens are a species of never aging female mermaids who feed off of misfortune, and Merfolk are just merfolk"

"Wow, you guys are very mischievous," Waverly smirked and nodded. She stopped, taking a moment to rest. Nicole glanced back and stopped, joining her again. "Do you want help?"

"No thank you. This gives me a moment to really enjoy the farms."

"I don't mind helping you, Ms. Earp."

"I'm fine, Nicole." She smiled continuing along the path. "So how do you make an income? Pirating or trading?"

"A bit of both. More mercenary work and pillaging royal ships and merchants we don't have footholds in. You know, I never asked what you did?"

"I worked at a bar. Glorious, right?"

"Sounds fun, that's what my crew does when we dock here."

"What about you?"

"I try to collect alliances and buy shops so I have some extra money on the side."

"What do you do with it?"

"Improve my cabin, get food, share the money." Nicole smiled pointing at a small fancy manor with two guards watching and protecting it.

"Cabin? That looks more like a mansion."

Nicole shrugged and smiled. "It's home for me. We're almost there."

Waverly followed Nicole to the door, hobbling through the door to be greeted by a beautiful, yet reasonable, parlour room with a small fireplace and simple furnishings. Through a basic arch, Waverly could see the dining room with a small table and four chairs that matched the couches in the parlour. She looked a bit more and saw a staircase to the far right of the room that spiralled to the next floor. Waverly continued into the nice house, seeing a few paintings on the walls, though it seemed that the main article in the room was a wall in the dining area continuing into the parlour that was covered in masks of all different shapes, colours, materials, and faces. She saw masks replicating people animals the sun and the moon.

"Wow, where did you get all of these?" Waverly asked going to the wall.

"It's just things I was given found or got in piracy."

"So do you know where some of these are from?"

"Of course. I have it all organized by continent."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What's your favourite mask."

Nicole smiled and walked to the wall, "I love this one. It's from The Kingdom of Matamba

but I got it from Negritia."

She gestured to a mask on the wall next to the fireplace. It was white with black and blue lines down the centre of the mask, spreading out to the jaw. There were two red lines streaming down tears. The lips were orange and yellow with black dots on the top lip. Waverly revelled at the simple wooden mask, smiling as she heard the history behind it. Nicole opened a door that lead off of the parlour. Waverly followed her trying to see into the room.

"My room is upstairs. This is where you'll be staying. If you need anything, just call for me and I'll try to be there as quickly as I can."

"Okay, thank you."

Waverly continued down into the simple room. It was a simple room the same colour as the parlour with a single small bed at against the wall made with a wooden frame and matching brown and cream coloured sheets and blankets. There was a fireplace on the other side with an armchair angled towards the bed and a bedside table with a simple lamp. The window was large and had long beautifully complex curtains. Waverly walked in, going to sit on the armchair. Nicole smiled in the doorway.

"I'll be back, I just need to get some supplies." She explained before dipping out of sight.

She jogged upstairs to her bathroom, going through a cabinet to grab some gauze and an imported jar of crushed up aloe vera. She went back downstairs and unwrapped her leg. Nicole spread a thin layer of the goo onto her leg and rewrapped it with the new gauze. She took everything and began to wash the other wrapping with soap and water on one of her washboards in the yard. Waverly followed her outside, seeing Nicole's expansive yard. It was a wild garden with beautiful untamed trees and flowers providing vibrant colours and shade to rest in and gaze at. She sat down in a thicket of grass under a large low tree with dark round leaves spread out far above and around the tree. Waverly watched as she strung up the cloth over a thin rope placed between two fruit covered trees. Nicole walked to one of the trees and pulled on a few green fruits until two fell into her hands. She sat down next to Waverly and handed her one before sitting down next to her.

"They're pond apples." She explained. "Kind of sweet, really good."

"Thank you."

"You seem better. How's your leg feeling?"

"Better, but it still hurts to walk."

"Well, I'm glad you decided to join me out here, Ms. Earp." Nicole smiled taking a bite out of the apple. "Cuba is beautiful and so amazing."

"My pleasure. So how long have you lived here?"

"6 years I think. Maybe 5."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I've always found humans so interesting."

"Really? How?"

"I love how you all have such great curiosity. When you're afraid you choose to protect rather than teach yourselves about the world around you. Something I think many of you forgot, is that you're all very much like me like other faes."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you just forgot how to see us. You lost your love and open curiosity. Many of you shut us out."

"How can I see you now?"

"Merfolk and sirens are always visible in sound and, or, sight. We choose to be visible to you, our family."

"Family?"

"Yes. Your species is not at all far off from vampires, merfolk, and sidhe."

"So is that why we're able to see you and vampires?"

"Yes." Waverly nodded taking a bite out of her apple. "This is really good."

"I know right?"

She chuckled and sighed. "I can help you see again."

"Okay, why not."

"With that attitude, you'll be easy." Waverly smiled. "I want you to tell me your best memory, something that makes you smile everytime, pure happiness, no sadness or nostalgia. Don't tell me, just think about it."

"Okay."

"Now follow me, it shouldn't be too hard to find some fae here in the wild."

"Are you sure you're ready to explore?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Come on. Faeries are the easiest to find."

"Are you sure you're ready for an adventure on your leg?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine. Follow me." Nicole shrugged and followed her guest into the woods behind her house. "So are there any wells or springs here? Maybe a quiet pond most people don't go to?"

"Yeah, They told me about it when I had this place built. I think it's just a bit further." She pointed out, continuing to follow her.

Waverly nodded and went down the unkempt trail. It took a while to find the spring, but Waverly was able to find other signs of faeries in the woods. She cocks her head to the side and begins to sing into the quiet forest. Her voice was so enchanting that Nicole didn't realise the creatures slowly surrounding them, some echoing Waverly's voice and some chattering in the background. She reached out for Waverly, snapping out of her trance when she spotted a small faery hopping from a tree and flying in front of Nicole's sight. It head butted her, giving her a massive headache.

"What the hell?"

Waverly laughed, covering her mouth. The others chuckled and swirled around Nicole. Waverly walked over to her, pushing a bit of hair from her face and smiled. "It's okay, that's how they show kinship."

"God that hurt like hell."

Waverly smiled, looking at the faeries around them. "You'll heal, and now you can talk to them."

"Shecanseeus." A faery quickly said.

"Shecanhearus." Another smiled.

Their voices melded together as they flew around Waverly and Nicole. One of them lifted up Waverly's dress, pointing to her leg.

"Wecanfixthis." They offered.

Before either could confirm or deny their offer, the faery undid her wrappings and began working on her leg. Waverly sat down as the faery slathered her leg with seemingly random plants and liquids. She watched as the wound began to close up. It still hurt, but now there was no fear of infection. She brushed her hand over the scar and smiled, thanking the faery. Nicole helped her up.

"We should go." Waverly yawned. "Thank you."

Nicole helped Waverly back to the homestead, passing by beautiful flora and fawn on their way. She couldn't help but glance at the stunning young woman with her. Once they reached their destination, Nicole found her a nightgown.

"I'm really surprised how fast it healed." Waverly smiled feeling the healed over wound again. "Look."

Nicole sat down next to her and felt the deep scar. "Oh yeah, I mean it won't all grow back, so now you have a battle scar. Guys like scars, though."

"Do girls?"

Nicole smirked and scoffed, cut off before she could continue. Waverly quickly kissed Nicole, lunging across the space between them. She felt her heart racing as she kissed her. Waverly placed her hand on her jaw, leaning over a bit more. Nicole glanced at Waverly before closing her eyes and deepening their kiss.

They pulled away with just fleeting glances in the silence. Nicole held Waverly's hand and pecked lips her before getting up.

"I should go." She whispered.

"Do you want to?"

"Not really, no."

"Then don't."

Nicole nodded and kissed her again, pressing her against the bed. She pulled Waverly's leg up around her hip and gave her multiple light kisses, tipping her chin up into another longer kiss. Waverly smiled and wrapped her arms around Nicole's neck, pulling her closer.


	3. Chapter 3

*A Month Later*

"Okay, so hold it out," Nicole explained.

"Like this?" Waverly asked.

"No." Nicole shook her head, walking over to her. She pushed Waverly's foot to a wider base and shifted her weight to her back leg. "This. You don't want to fall forward, into your opponent." She took Waverly's hand and fixed the grip on her sword. "Okay, take a slash." Waverly slashed across the air in a diagonal downward angle. She took another slash across. "Good. Now jab."

"This will help?"

"Jabs aren't helpful, but good to know. To understand blocks, you have to know how to attack. Now to a slash across."

Waverly nodded and did a few more attacks, practicing on Nicole a bit before she was taught blocks. It was important, Waverly knew, but she was so bored. She just wanted to travel and explore with Nicole, maybe bring Wynonna along as well.

"Let's take a break." Nicole offered. "We can do this later. Do you want to go visit Havana?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay." Nicole laughed sheathing her sword and putting the other back inside.

Waverly followed at her heels as excited as a puppy. "So, where do you usually go?"

"One of the more local saloons. It's cheaper and a lot fewer tourists."

"So what kind of drinks do you humans drink?"

"Here, rum and fermented fruits. Rum's made of sugar, so easy to find. What about you? Wouldn't the drink dissipate into the water?"

"Not the way we make it. We make it these bubbles of seaweed and fill them with liquors."

"How does that work?"

"I don't know the science, just how to do it."

Nicole nodded as they finally got to the main street. There were many people walking down and many more who were lounging about under awnings and porches outside of different establishments. Nicole decided to first go to a local shop to buy a sweet treat.

"What's this?" Waverly asked.

"A Sweet Shoppe. They sell candy and some baked goods. I thought I'd buy something to start the day off."

They walked into the busy shop. Nicole swiftly asked for two cocoa dusted natillas. She came back to Waverly who was still exploring the cases of candies and other pastries.

"So what are these?"

"It's cocoa covered cinnamon custard. Here it's called natilla con cacao. These are my favourite because it's so sweet, and only sold this month, so I wait all year for them." She explained handing one of the small dishes to her.

Waverly looked at it for a moment before taking a spoonful of the custard and eating it. It was so sweet and also a bit tart from the cocoa.

"Wow, that's really good."

"What kind of sweets do you guys have under water?"

"We don't really have any sweet foods unless we go on land or trade with ships."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Sugar doesn't grow under water neither does fruit. Because of that, we don't serve rum or many other liquors you probably drink."

"That makes sense. So you've never been drunk?"

"Not off of your alcohol, but for my people, we drink fermented kelp juice. It's pretty strong."

"Probably not as strong as some of the spirits we make."

"Maybe not, we don't have as many options as you."

"Fermented kelp juice. What does that taste like?"

"It's disgusting, but how we get drunk. When humans started sailing, we were able to mix it up and create new concoctions."

"What's your favourite?"

"Probably this one I had a while ago. I think it was a mix of kelp and vodka."

"Well, I can introduce you to so much more, if you want?"

"That would be great." Waverly nodded, pecking Nicole on the cheek. "You're so sweet, as sweet as natilla."

Nicole blushed and chuckled at her words, taking the last spoonful of natilla and placing the tin bowl and spoon into a bucket. She looked around the street before entering a bar where music was playing. Waverly sat down at a table, watching a pianist flawlessly play the piano and a guitarist playing alongside in harmony.

"So when will you leave?"

"In two weeks. I try to make sure we get back in time for Christmas."

"Christmas?"

"A holiday in the winter where families get together and celebrate Christianity, religion."

"What do you do with your family?"

"Well, not much, almost nothing, actually. I don't really see them anymore."

"Why?"

"I dishonoured them."

"How?"

"When I left them at 14 and they didn't hear back until a letter was sent to them 3 years later with my real name on it, I was invited to no longer stay in Caerdydd."

"So what do you do?"

"Drink."

"Why not just talk to them?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm not wanted there. I know I'm not wanted there."

"I'm sorry that they don't want to spend a holiday with you, but you could write to them and see what they say."

"Play it safe, I guess."

Waverly nodded. "So, what's your favourite drink to get here?"

"Rum."

"Didn't that clean out my leg?"

"Good alcohol is versatile."

"Okay." She chuckled.

Nicole walked up to the bar with Waverly, quickly paying for their drinks before turning back to her.

"You look like you have a question?" Nicole stated.

"Back to your life, why did you decide to join the navy?"

"It was the only way I could explore the world on my own. I grew up on a smithery, something my family has done for generations. I don't want to do that, I want to learn about cultures and languages. And now learn about the forgotten race of magical creatures. So I crossdressed for my country. What do you want out of life? Why were you so far away from home? Were you running away from something or someone?"

"I was exploring and got chased by your dinner."

Nicole chuckled and grabbed their drinks before going back to the lone table in the corner. "How is your leg feeling?"

"Like nothing happened." Waverly smiled taking a sip from her cup. She instantly coughed and gagged on the drink.

"Oh yeah, it's a bit strong." Nicole laughed. "I would only take a few sips of it because it's strong."

"Really clears out everything."

"Yeah, it's a nice and cheap way to get drunk."

Waverly took a few sips and set it down. "Maybe a few more tries later and I'll get used to it."

"It's hard to love. I remember I was about 14 when I first had a try of this. My fleet went out to this area and raided a pirate vessel. When we imprisoned them and got their loot, we found, I kid you not, 15 barrels of rum, 12 bags of sugar, and 90 kilograms of gunpowder as well as some other random stolen treasures. So where have you been?"

"I've been to cold waters with light-skinned people who looked like you and waters where people had beautiful skin as black as the night. I've been to waters of untouched lands and met people who don't dress at all."

"Wow, not even I have been to Africa or North America."

"I would travel with Wynonna. She had so much fun messing with sailors and meeting with who ever dared to go near us."

"How could they not. You're so enchanting."

Nicole finished off the tin of rum, glancing at Waverly. "This is definitely one of the harsher spirits we have. Beers are expensive here, but plentiful back home."

"What does it taste like?"

"For me, home. It's all we had to drink there. At least the safest thing to drink. But I guess the closest thing would be tart and bitter but smooth and cool."

"Oh, you can finish this off if you want," Waverly smirked sliding the tin over to Nicole. "I know we've seen the faeries who live here, but I want to show you a phenomenon in the ocean."

"Okay, let's go."

"Not now, when the sun sets, we'll go out."

"So what until then?"

"Why not walk around. This is such a beautiful island."

"Why not?" She agreed.

They departed from the tavern and began a small adventure out to the large and mostly unexplored island. Waverly intertwined their hands, walking down the peaceful dirt road of the more rural part of Cuba.

"What's your favourite part about living here?"

"I guess the sun. It's almost always cloudy back home and sailing can be days or weeks without sunshine."

Waverly sat down on a fallen tree on the edge of one of the plantations, watching Nicole as she sat down, too.

"You know, I really don't know much about you."

"Not much to know, really."

"Why is your relationship with your parents so strained?"

"Are you hoping to get us to get along?"

"Maybe. I'm just curious."

"It's in the past."

"Then maybe it's time to reconcile?"

"Waves, I know it's been about a month, but somethings are meant to be private. This is one of those sensitive subjects that are hard to talk about."

"I'm sorry," Waverly apologized reaching over to hold her hand.

"It's fine just a tough topic for me."

Waverly leaned against her, resting her head on her shoulder. "What about some other lighter things then?"

"Like what?"

"What's a memory you have that always makes you smile?"

"Something that makes me smile," Nicole thought. "Oh! There was this time when I was young, my little brother Antoni and I were playing jacks and when he threw the ball up, it hit my sister in the nose. She chased him around for ten minutes before my other brother, Henry, broke them apart. What about you?"

"Probably my first hunt. I was chasing a fish and my dad said that chasing them was the most efficient way to hunt, but I caught it and surprised the hell out of him and Willa. I remember Wynonna was the only one who wasn't shocked by it." Waverly smirked and shrugged at the end of her story.

"So what happened to them?"

"They were killed by sailors. Daddy and Willa protected us before they were caught in nets and reeled onto the boat."

"I'm sorry. When did that happen?"

"When I was 4." Waverly sighed standing up. "You live here, who do you hang out with other than your crew?"

"I, not really, just my crew and shop keepers. I'm never here long enough to really meet people. I've just stayed because about now, we prepare to go back to England."

"When do you leave England?"

"Late January."

"I'll try to meet you here then."

"You're not going to join me?"

"Not yet, I don't want to leave my sister without talking to her about this."

"Okay, well I'll send a letter when we leave about when we hope to be back in Cuba."

"Complicated, but I'll work with it." Waverly grinned. "Well, we should probably start out to where I want to take you."

"Sure!"

They got up and made their way to the port, grabbing a spare sail boat and making their way to the middle of the ocean.

"I'm really surprised at how this boat faired." Nicole smirked once they passed the first currents. "So, where to?"

"Really just straight for a while."

"Well, just direct me and I'll make sure to get us there."

"Will do."

Hours went by quickly as they chatted about their lives in their worlds, comparing the differences and similarities. The sun began to fall and Waverly told Nicole to stop the boat. She just waited, grabbing her girlfriend's hands and leaning in to kiss her.

Waverly moved her hands to the back of Nicole's neck and pulled her closer,

pulling a lock of red hair behind her ear.

Nicole placed her hands on her girlfriend's thighs, slowly hiking up the skirt. Waverly glanced around and pulled away a bit, biting Nicole's lip.

"Eager."

"Just a bit."

Nicole tucked her head into Waverly's neck, placing soft kisses against her neck.

"Okay, okay. Look in the water." Waverly laughed pushing Nicole away by her chest.

Low blue lights littered the ocean, bright neon colours in a milky blue-white phenomenon covered the sea. Nicole leant over, looking down.

"What is this?" She asked.

"Lights over my city."

"Wow." She beamed.

Waverly smiled as Nicole regarded the lights.

"I've heard of this kind of stuff happening, but I thought that they were crazy."

Nicole leant just too far over and slipped into the water. She couldn't really tell what was happening, but she was getting pulled down. It was a blur for her, the ocean's murky brightness and high pitched noises. Whatever was pulling her down let go and she swam back to the surface, climbing into the boat from the back. Waverly was gone, but her clothes were on the boat. Nicole searched around the water, hearing the sound of breaking water. She saw Waverly climb back in, stark naked like when they first met.

Nicole pulled off her jacket and stated, "Well that was weird."

"Miscommunication. Our guards thought you were a scientist trying to capture us." She shrugged pulling on Nicole's jacket, pecking her on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Beautiful, really, and thank you for showing me."

Waverly wrung out her hair. "My pleasure, but still, sorry about that weird moment. Kinda ruined our moment."

"Our moment?"

"I mean… never mind."

"No, no, what did you mean?"

"Just the heated kiss and 'Eager' thing."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, still shaken up by that whole thing."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Waverly chuckled and quickly kissed her, pulling her in for a long kiss and began to unbutton her shirt.

"What if-" Nicole worried.

"No what ifs." Waverly interrupted, still kissing her. "Just us."


End file.
